Diaz Presents on “Using Technology to Promote Information Literacy”

Portia Diaz presented “Using Technology to Promote Information Literacy for Life-Long Learning: Creating Learning Communities with Blogs, Wikis, YouTube, Facebook” at the twenty-third International Conference on the First Year Experience. The conference took place June 7–10, 2010 in Maui, Hawaii.

Her presentation provided attendees with an introduction to social networking tools and how they are being used in higher education as a teaching tool to retain and engage students through the creation of online learning communities. She discussed the current literature on the topic; provide examples of her class assignments (e.g., Facebook group discussions, Twitter information literacy, tweets, and blogging research topics) through her own experience in teaching courses that incorporate social networking tools to engage first-year students in building their information literacy skills for lifelong learning.

Diaz also provided a live demonstration, as well as webliography of resources, on how to use specific tools such as blogs, wikis, YouTube, Twitter, yfrog, Ustream, and Facebook in teaching first-year students.

Portia Diaz is ABD in EdD in Curriculum and Instruction, and is currently working on her dissertation, “Information Literacy in Secondary and Higher Education.” Diaz is a faculty member for the IUP Libraries, where she provides information literacy instruction to first-year students. She teaches the following credited courses: Introduction to Library Resources, Internet and Multimedia, and Information Access in the Digital Age. She has over thirteen years of experience involved with various committees engaged in the first-year experience, information literacy, distance education, Web development, and instructional technologies.